The development team at PMDG was the first to ready one of their payware, add-on aircraft for P3Dv5. The majestic Boeing 747-400 Queen of the Skies II is now 100% 99% compatible with P3Dv5. Unfortunately, she isn’t 100% as there was a last minute change with the way the new ActiveSky P3D handles weather. Specifically the way aircraft needs to be coded to interpret weather from ActiveSky P3D so the weather radar functions correctly. Unfortunately, PMDG were not aware of this change and only learned about it after releasing the QOTSII. While the PMDG Dev team have moved onto the next aircraft (hopefully the 737NGXu), they will circle back and make the necessary corrections to the Queen. Most likely I will wait and install the 747-400 after PMDG has provided the new updated installer.
Speaking of the Queen
While not flight sim related, Friday 8 May marked the 75th Anniversary of VE Day. VE Day also known as Victory in Europe Day was the day in which the Allies of World War II accepted the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany. Queen Elizabeth II spoke on Friday and was quoted as saying, “Never Give Up, Never Despair”. In these trying times we’re now finding ourselves living, those words could never be more important.
The Work Continues
As I mentioned in my post on Saturday, I have successfully installed P3Dv5, ActiveSky P3D and FSUIPC. I’ve now moved on to installing all my Orbx sceneries and airports. I’ve always had the best luck in doing this in a particular order.
First and obviously you need to install P3Dv5. Next install Orbx FTX Base and Libraries. It appears Orbx will not be making their FTX Vector for P3Dv5, so for now skip that. Then I begin installing the Orbx regions and finally all Orbx airports. Once this is done (and it will take some time) I generally spend some time in a GA aircraft and go out and enjoy the beautiful Orbx regions. My all time favorite is Southern Alaska and Pacific Northwest. The very first add-on Orbx airport I purchased was 7S3 Stark’s Twin Oaks Airpark which is a Bill Womack classic. I just love flying around this area.
Still Not Ready for Prime Time
P3Dv5 still isn’t ready to go for me. While it’s coming together for GA, VFR, low and slow flying…it’s not yet ready to take the place of P3Dv4. Most likely it will still be a few weeks away from that timeframe. To me this is a very methodical process and as I’ve stated before, I DO NOT install anything into the new sim that hasn’t been made compatible. So my favorite aircraft, the PMDG 737NGXu will have to wait for the PMDG team to provide a new installer. Whether that is a few days or a few weeks, the wait will be worth it.
For now, I’ll continue installing the rest of the Orbx airports and then begin downloading other “ready to go” payware airports. I have a lot of add-ons so stay tuned.
Until next time…
Happy Flying!
Jerry